


Trust Exercise

by thephilosophersapprentice



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Gen, batfamily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 11:13:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11485188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thephilosophersapprentice/pseuds/thephilosophersapprentice
Summary: Robins have some unusual initiation rites. Tim isn't sure what he thinks of this one.





	Trust Exercise

“Are you ready?” Dick asked. Tim wanted to shake his head violently. Of course he wasn’t ready, Dick was crazy, and Tim was even more crazy for even considering going along with it.

Instead, Tim said, “Yes.”

Dick went down on one knee, bending his head down and holding both palms out, elbows in close to his body. Tim swallowed nervously. “What if I’m too heavy for you?”

“Then I’ll catch you,” Dick said confidently. “Tim, relax.” Tim swallowed, bent over Dick’s back, and put his palms against Dick’s, slowly rolling himself up into a handstand, putting his whole weight on Dick’s hands.

Dick straightened gradually, lifting Tim what felt like a hundred feet in the air. Tim swallowed against gravity. He could feel every quiver of every muscle transferred up into him through his palms, every one of the many slight adjustments Dick made every second to keep him aloft.

“Relax your shoulders if you can,” Dick advised. “You can’t keep your balance if you lock your muscles.”

Holding the pose was much more difficult than Tim had ever realized--even obstacle courses hadn’t fully prepared him. Stomach churning uneasily, Tim could feel Dick’s fatigue as well as his own, transferred by a bizarre sort of osmosis.

“So,” he said, trying to sound casual, “did you do this with…”

“Took me forever to teach Bruce this trick,” Dick told him. “Jason learned much faster. So did you.” Tim wondered inwardly if he’d ever be in Dick’s position. He knew he was only planning to be Robin for a while, to pass it on to the next candidate and get on with his life, but he briefly toyed with the idea before letting it pass. Tim wasn’t even sure he’d ever develop the strength he’d need for it.

Tim’s arms were screaming for relief now, but he didn’t want to speak up. Dick would probably get tired sooner than he would, anyway.

Tim almost lost his balance as the sharp clangor of a kitchen timer cut sharply through the silence. Dick cheered, somehow without upsetting the current Boy Wonder perched on his hands. “Yes! New record!”

“Can I get down now?” Tim asked, his voice starting to shake.

“Sure.” Without warning, Dick gave a sharp shove upward and Tim reacted without thinking, turning it into a neat backflip and landing in a crouch. He breathed out slowly. Dick grinned at him. “That was the fun dismount. Next time I suppose I’ll have to get you down without a backflip, but that takes more muscle control and I could feel you were getting tired.”

“No kidding,” Tim murmured, pumping fists in an attempt to alleviate the ghost pressure on his hands. His abdomen ached from the strain of holding himself upright and the apprehension of moments before.

“Same time next week?” Dick asked.

Despite himself, Tim grinned.


End file.
